Abdul Hakim Bukhary
| place_of_birth = Mecca, Saudi Arabia | date_of_arrest = | place_of_arrest= | arresting_authority= | date_of_release = | place_of_release= | date_of_death = | place_of_death = | citizenship = Saudi Arabia | detained_at = Guantanamo | id_number = 493 | group = | alias = | charge = No charge | penalty = | status = Repatriated | csrt_summary = | csrt_transcript= | occupation = | spouse = | parents = | children = }} Abdul Hakim Bukhary ( ) is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 493. American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1955, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Background Bukhary volunteered, in the 1980s, to help defend Afghanistan against its Soviet occupiers. He acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan to help the Taliban. However, he promptly found himself beaten and imprisoned by the Taliban. Without realizing what it would lead to, he expressed admiration of Ahmed Shah Massoud, a Mujahideen leader from the struggle against the Soviets who had been opposed to the Taliban. Bukhary was one of approximately a dozen Guantanamo captives who went from almost directly Taliban custody, to the custody of Northern Alliance warlords, to American custody. According to the BBC Bukhary had been jailed by the Taliban for expressing approval of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a Northern Alliance leader assassinated on September 9, 2001.Guantanamo Bay: The testimony, BBC, March 4, 2006 Historian Andy Worthington quoted Bukhary's description of the Taliban's reaction to his comments on Massoud: Bukhary had originally traveled to Afghanistan to help the Taliban. Bukhary had previously fought against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.Guantanamo Bay prisoner: From anti-American holy warrior to lover of free speech, Union Tribune, March 4, 2006 He told his tribunal he: "... was once ready to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan. But the former holy warrior has told his American captors he now loves democracy – and that hardline Taliban fighters prompted his conversion." Allegations To comply with a Freedom of Information Act request, during the winter and spring of 2005, the Department of Defense released 507 memoranda. Those 507 memoranda each contained the allegations against a single detainee, prepared for their Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The detainee's name and ID numbers were redacted from all but one of the memoranda. However 169 of the memoranda had the detainee's ID hand-written on the top right hand of the first page corner. When the Department of Defense complied with a court order, and released official lists of the detainee's names and ID numbers it was possible to identify who those 169 were written about. Abdul Hakim Bukhary was one of those 169 detainees. Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf) prepared for Abdul Hakim Bukhary's ''Combatant Status Review Tribunal - October 4, 2004 - page 193 . :#Detainee stayed with Jama'at Tablighi prior to September 11, 2001. :#Jama'at Tablighi, a Pakistan based Islamic missionary organization is being used as a cover to mask travel and activities of terrorists including members of al Qaida. :b. The detainee engaged in hostilities against the United States and its coalition partners: :#The detainee was part of a group of mujahideen that defended the Kandahar airport. }} Transcript Bukhary chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. detainees ARB|Set_3_0205-0319_Revised.pdf#56}} Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Hakim Bukhary's''Combatant Status Review Tribunal'' - pages 56-65 Bukhary chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing. detainees ARB|ARB_Transcript_Set_6_20255-20496.pdf#219}} Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Abdul Hakim Bukhary's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 219 Abdul Bukhary and other former Taliban prisoners Abdul Bukhary was one of nine former Taliban prisoners the Associated Press pointed out had gone from Taliban custody to American custody. Repatriation Sixteen Saudi were repatriated on September 16, 2007. One of the released men was named Abdel-Hakee Abdel-Karim Ameen Bukhari. References Category:Living people Category:Prisoners of the Taliban Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:Guantanamo detainees known to have been released Category:Saudi Arabian people Category:People from Mecca